Comprehension-First Pedagogy and Adaptive, Intrinsically Motivated Tutorials

Abstract

Two large multinational studies show more than 60% of students incorrectly answer questions about the execution of basic programs. How can we improve program comprehension learning outcomes, and does that improve program writing learning outcomes? Nearly all prior tools and approaches have been evaluated in a writing-focused pedagogical context. People receive instruction on a programming construct's syntax and semantics, practice by writing code, then advance to the next construct (roughly a spiral syntax approach). In contrast, little work has explored a comprehension-first pedagogy, teaching and assessing program semantics - how static code causes dynamic computer behavior - before teaching learners to write code. I hypothesize this pedagogy improves program comprehension and writing learning outcomes, and that an adaptive curriculum of programs that aligns with the learner's interests and assessed knowledge further improves outcomes. Towards that goal, I built and evaluated a comprehension-first tutorial (PLTutor) with a fixed, non-adaptive curriculum, showing 60% higher learning gains (3.9 vs 2.4 on the SCS1) than the writing-focused tutorial Codecademy. I'm looking for new ideas (such as more social (theories, design, etc)), prior work, or methods to inform my thesis proposal and committee selection.